idek tbh lmao

In Grímnismál, Odin states, “Never a single name have I had since first I fared among men.” And indeed, we have a very large number that are attested, as well as many that have no doubt been lost to time.

One of the more well known heiti is Hrafnaguð, the Raven God. In turn, his blood brother Loki is called Gammleið, “the vulture’s path.”

Because of Odin’s connection with ravens as well as his role of selecting those slain on the battlefield for an afterlife in Valhalla, I propose that it is feasible, perhaps even likely, for Odin to have been named “the raven’s path” by viking age skalds.

Another notable name is the one commonly used for him: Odin. The word it most likely derives from, óðr, is usually associated with ritual ecstasy and battle frenzy, but it could potentially extend to other forms of “madness.” For example, of his twin ravens, Huginn and Muninn, traditionally translated as “thought” and “memory”, Odin states, “I fear more for Muninn.” He embodies anxiety about not only the temporary abandonment of ritual or battle, but also a more permanent loss of history and self.

One final aspect of Odin that his heiti point to but is rarely explored is his connection to the night and blackness. He is Fjölnir, concealer, Herblindi, blinder of hosts, and Tvíblindi, twice blind. He is Grímnir, the hooded one. He presides over Yule, the longest night. Ravens are so closely associated with their color that the word is used as a synonym for black. And according to folklore, he notably rides forth with his forces, known today as the Wild Hunt only between sunset and dawn.

Freyr by yours truly. 

Freya’s twin brother, Freyr. She’s battle-thirsty, but usually drawn peaceful and docile. Freyr is the god of peace, but it usually drawn as a warrior. Go figure! Fun fact: most of the design for Thrainduil the Elven King from the Hobbit was based around Tolkien’s love of Norse mythology. Thrainduil is a very obvious Freyr analogue. (Gandalf’s a really obvious Odin, but I’ll get to that sometime!)

Freyr is a good god, who loves peace and nature. No weapons were allowed in his sacred places. 

I find myself with a rare surplus of time due to an event falling through. Meanwhile, I was surprised and delighted to see @thewitchofthenorse​ referring to Gefjon in a recent post. Despite the fact that Gefjon is one of the best-attested goddesses in all of Norse mythology, probably better-attested than Iðunn, Skaði, Gerðr, Nótt, Sól, etc; being the only goddess to my knowledge who has a devotional skáldic poem by an actual heathen on the record; and being the first deity mentioned at all in Gylfaginning, she is usually considered an obscure, minor deity, if not an accidental creation of confused Christian retrospection or byname of another, more well-known goddess. I want to take the opportunity to do something I’ve meant to do literally for years and make an informational/theory post about her. This isn’t the post I want to make but I’m afraid I don’t have that one in me, and it’ll do for now.

I feel personally called out.

Wild mouse in her natural habit

Most of the patches on this vest are from Nerdy Keppie and they’re fantastic.

@irresponsible-black-unicorn

BIG DISCLAIMER: i was 9 when 9/11 happened, so this might be more about my own crystalizing tastes than anything else. i think it’s a pretty darn good theory tho and other people have validated it.

BIGGER DISCLAIMER: i am not saying that country music prior to 9/11 was free from nationalist, racist, misogynist undertones - i just think that these themes became more the norm!

MY HOT TAKE:

with very few exceptions, including goodbye earl, before he cheats, and daddy Iessons (side note - all women!) 9/11 ruined country music. around 2014 onward we’ve got margo price, sturgill simpson, jason isbell etc., who are making country music great again (wink), but those folks are mostly considered “alternative” country. the mainstream country music for well over a decade now is a glut of trash performative patriotic / working-class-but-not-really lab-crafted budweiser-sponsored nonsense that has managed to sound rebellious (or has convinced its fans that it sounds rebellious) without ever actually questioning any power structure. so much so that artists who ACTUALLY criticized the government were literally blacklisted for nearly a decade (the dixie chicks)

pre-9/11 country music, though not perfect or ideologically pure by any stretch, did not have the raging american flag painted truck boner that comes to mind for a lot of people who say “i like everything except rap and country”

SPECIFICALLY, toby keith’s “courtesy of the red, white, and blue (the angry american)” (2002) literally destroyed country music. it was a direct answer to the 9/11 attacks and war song in support of the invasion of afghanistan. the lyrics read like a disjointed feverish email chain letter forwarded from your great uncle sprinkled with glittering american flag gifs and heavily saturated pictures of bald eagles. the entire song is lifted from an estimated 248 peeling bumper stickers collected from rusted trucks on cinder blocks in overgrown yards, cut up and arranged to fit a catchy, formulaic tune that is almost certainly the background music playing in george w. bush’s head at all times.

“we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the american way and uncle sam put your name at the top of his list and the statue of liberty started shakin’ her fist and the eagle will fly, and it’s gonna be hell, when you hear mother freedom start a'ringin’ her bell”

country music and the new country musicians that toby keith paved the way for became so pro establishment and so unquestioningly nationalistic that, again, the dixie chicks who went against this grain were blacklisted by the industry and received death threats from country music fans. hell, there are folks who STILL froth at the mouth at the mere mention of the dixie chicks.

9/11 killed outlaw country - how can you sing the praises of law breakers when your main circuit consists of singing to troops? there are some great classic country songs critiquing the police state - especially from johnny cash and merle haggard - now country music artists hold fundraisers for FOPs. new country music is basically in-law country music.

you don’t have to write a pro-bush patriotic anthem to be part of this post-9/11 ruination. playing meaningless songs about living in the heart of (read: white) america, eschewing the city (read: not white), and cracking open a cold one with the boys for “authentic” country music is also important to the war effort.

there’s a progression of themes here:

post 9/11 top tier: war anthem, vocally patriotic, directly used as pro war propaganda; which paved the way for: “things used to be so much better” thinly veiled racist laments, good for campaign ads; which paved the way for meaningless party anthems - attempts to make things “like they used to be” and craft a reality that neither the artist nor listener likely ever experience.

that brings us to what most people think of today when they say they hate country music: the country party anthem - “tiny hot gal in tight jean shorts who can drink beer like the guys, she doesn’t like beyoncé Like Other Girls, oh she’s so into me and my truck, i’m gonna take her fishing after i finish sowing my corn - sung by a guy who’s never touched a tractor” - has overtaken the tragic, done me wrong, despairing country ballads of tammy wynette, george jones, and even up into pre-9/11 contemporaries like reba mcentire and george strait. you didn’t necessarily have to be country to relate to their pain. now you have to perform suburban redneckness to enjoy luke bryan.

when was the last time you heard a sad country song?

after 9/11, cowboys (whether or not they had ever been near a cow) weren’t allowed to be sad anymore (no more done me wrong country), and they certainly weren’t allowed to question authority (no more outlaw country). partying hardy became the most important American Thing and if you don’t sing about that, our Enemies Will Win.

so - understanding that country music has always had bad stuff, and that like any genre it suffers from commercialization, 9/11 DESTROYED COUNTRY MUSIC. and toby keith gleefully helped destroy it.

for some further evidence of the decline of country music, please listen to the dixie chicks’ “long time gone” which is an indictment of the industry (i believe it was written before 9/11 but my point still stands - the genre was on the decline and 9/11 was the major cultural event that hastened the decline).

Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie C Riley, aka an Epic Roast on suburban soccer mom culture that’s still super relevant

El Paso by Marty Robbins, one of the most hauntingly beautiful and classic Story Songs of Old Country

Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean (yes that Jimmy Dean), another great Story Song that invokes classic imagery of the coal-mine days, manages to criticize the coal industry, and honor the kind of men (usually men of color) who often lost their lives in those “worthless pit(s).” Also haunting and gorgeous.

Mississippi Squirrel Revival by Ray Stevens, a sadly endangered/extinct form of country– Comedy Country, as a subset of Story Songs.

Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, one of the true Classics of country, that exhibits the aforementioned outlaw country content style, and also the propensity of Old Country to use music and effects to evoke certain imagery–in this case, the music mimics a chugging train. Also Johnny Cash had a truly beautiful voice. He also recorded this IN Folsom Prison, for the prisoners, for free because when he went to prison (for all of something like 3 days) he was deeply moved by the inhumane conditions and how most of the men there didn’t really deserve to be there and how cruel the guards were. So yeah, just a cornerstone of classic country you deserve to hear at least once.

Crazy by Patsy Cline, once again a true classic, and a prime example of “been done wrong” country (this time by a female singer, with a deeply stunning and mesmerizing voice!)

16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, aka Capitalism is Killing The Common Man and I’m Salty About It by Deep Voice McSassypants

Your Cheatin Heart by Hank Williams Sr, aka the first really big Done Me Wrong song.

Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song by BJ Thomas, which is super meta and a good example of the Done Me Wrong subgenre.

And a bonus, more modern country, but the response song from the Dixie Chicks after getting banned over being outspoken against Bush and the Iraq war: Not Ready To Back Down. GET IT, DIXIE CHICKS

You…can do a slow social progressive takeover of your local Democratic party, probably. You just need to carve out some time for it.

“Renay”, you say, exasperated, “that sounds fake, but okay.” But I’m here to tell you that if you’re in a rural/red state (or even blue states), you have an excellent chance of infecting the Democratic Party in your area with some straight up radical empathy. And you can do it in sneaky ways. It’s a long game. Here is a list:

1. Find your county Democrats. You may have to start at state level, but eventually you should be able to track down the chair of the county party and find out where and when they meet. Start attending meetings. If they’re not having meetings, hoooooboy. That’s a totally different thing. I spent two years fighting that battle, but if you want help, ping me. 

2. At the very first meeting, if the group isn’t using a microphone, bring it up. Ask if the committee can invest in a portable PA system to bring to meetings to help people who have trouble hearing. If they balk (ables often will), don’t worry. Make the request once, and then make the request at every subsequent meeting, kindly, until they get so sick of you they cave and/or start empathizing with you. My position here: who cares why it gets done. Just get it done.

3. Keep going to meetings. Generally county parties meet every month.

4. If there are nametags at meetings, always use them and put your pronouns on them. Yes, even you, cis people. ESPECIALLY YOU.

5. At your third meeting, if the group is using sign in sheets, ask the secretary, or meeting chair if the former is unclear, if the sign in sheets could have a field for pronouns. It’s not about getting people to use it yet—that’s later—we just want it on the template so YOU can use it and set an example. Yes, you can make this request even as a cis person. In fact, it’s probably better that you do because it will cost you less. You can do the emotional labor instead of making trans and enby friends do the labor. This goes back to nametags: if you do it, you create a safe bubble for others to do it, or a social pressure situation for people to do it. Social pressure is sometimes toxic, but we can use it for positive things!

These are Very Simple things you can do to Increase Inclusion in local Democratic spaces and shove them left. This is just the start, too. There’s language scrubbing (kind of advanced because you need to have relationships with the people), requesting the committee invite guest speakers from marginalized communities, and becoming a delegate to the state party annual convention. This is Very Advanced because it generally means travel, but I plan to do it myself because in two years I’m going to make the Arkansas DPA adopt gender neutral language in their platform instead of this “he or she” business.

I mean, maybe you think of going to county meetings and go, “ugh I would rather eat glass” but you can always take an ebook on your phone or something (I do this…soon I will have time to knit again and I’ll be doing that). Take 3-4 hours out of your month and invest it.

What shoves the Democratic Party left? We do. A bunch of people taking small steps in their local communities. And then the candidates coming out of those committees get more progressive and thoughtful, too.

The world doesn’t change just because we want it to. We make it change.

i have no fucking need to know who is or is not trans, all youve done is outed them and proved to me that i cant trust you. the first thing i find out about your friend shouldnt be that they trans. actually i should never find that out about your friend from you

HELLO! I’M THE GAY/TRANS/PAGAN RELATIVE HERE TO RUIN YOUR HOLIDAYS AND DRAG YOU TO HELL WITH ME

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